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Anne Sotvedt (nee Adair) was born March 23, 1904 in Swan River, Manitoba. In 1919, she moved with her family to British Columbia, and in 1922 began her long time career as a teacher at Douglas Road School in Burnaby. In December 1934. Anne met Henry Sotvedt, a young ski jumper from the Norwegian silver mining town of Kongsberg, on Hollyburn Mountain in West Vancouver. They married in 1935, and after living in several places throughout BC they eventually settled in West Vancouver. 
The Sotvedts loved skiing and were active members of the Vancouver Ski Club and the Cypress Ski Club. Henry ran a successful ski supply store in Vancouver with Gus Johnson called "Two Skiers" for many years, and was an active ski jumper and ski-jump instructor on both Grouse Mountain and Hollyburn from the 1930s to 1950s. He also competed at the elite level in both Nordic and Alpine events, winning a number of championships throughout North America. Anne temporarily interrupted her teaching career to raise their two sons, eventually retiring from teaching in 1969.

In later years, she and Henry travelled extensively throughout Canada and Europe and indulged their love for skiing, golf, contract bridge, and sharing time with family and friends. After his retirement from active competition, Henry became a technical consultant and spokesman with the Canadian Amateur Ski Association. He was also the first Canadian to be certified by the International Ski Federation as an international judge, coach, and manager of the Canadian team for the 1964 Olympics, as well as the first Canadian to judge in a European championship. Henry Sotvedt died April 21, 1982 at the age of 74. After Henry's passing, Anne continued to travel and was actively involved in the Eastern Star, and West Vancouver Seniors Centre. Anne Sotvedt died April 15, 2004 at the age of 100.

David Payne owned a cabin on Hollyburn Mountain in West Vancouver. Around 1937 he joined a provincial policing service involved in mountain rescue in Lynn Valley.

Freda Herrin Gilbert was born in 1907. She lived in West Vancouver, but matriculated from North Vancouver High School in 1924 as there were no matriculation high schools in West Vancouver at that time. In 1929, she obtained her certificate for a Primary Grade Teacher's course at summer school. She taught at Hollyburn School as early as 1925 until her marriage in 1933, which led to a move to Calgary. Upon her return to West Vancouver, she began teaching at Ridgeview Elementary School where her brother-in-law Harry Dickson was principal.

Louise Spratley was born on June 24, 1910 in Vernon, BC and moved with her family to West Vancouver in the mid 1920s when she was a teenager. She began her career as an accountant but after marriage to Richard Leonard Spratley she turned to full-time motherhood.

In 1955, Spratley began to write a garden column for the Lions Gate Times and shortly thereafter also became the accountant for the newspaper. In 1959, she became editor of the paper, replacing editor Claude Hoodspith. Under her editorialship both Spratley and the Lions Gate Times won awards in 1965 and 1966. She left the Lions Gate Times in February 1967 to become editor of the BC Hotelman for one year.

From 1968 to 1974 Spratley was Special Assistant to BC Federal cabinet Minister, the Hon. Jack Davis. During this period she was highly involved in environmental issues, including the Capilano Hatchery, and Environment Canada's "Interdepartmental Task Force on National Marine Parks" in regards to the Straits of Georgia and Juan De Fuca.

Spratley's retirement years were busy with contract work, especially for the District of West Vancouver. She worked on the West Vancouver Community Plan in 1980 and was editor of the West Vancouver Municipal News (subsequently the West Vancouver Report), a newspaper that she founded. Spratley regarded 1992 as the year she truly retired. She died on April 26, 1993.

William Esteen Gale was born in 1906, one of two sons of Hannah Rolinson (nicknamed Annie) and engineer William John Gale who were married in England in 1901. Emigrating to Canada to join other family members, the Gales and their two young sons arrived in Calgary in 1912 where Annie Gale became active in local social causes. At a time when there were no women in government across Canada, Annie Gale won a seat in the 1917 Calgary Civic Election and became the first woman alderman in the British Commonwealth Empire. She also served as Acting Mayor on occasion – another first for a woman. She retired from civic life in 1923, and in 1925 moved to Vancouver with her husband and two sons Henry and William.

In 1936, William Gale embarked upon a career in the mortgage loan industry, working for the Northwest Mortgage Company, Ltd. as an inspector. His duties included soliciting loans, writing plans and appraisals, taking photos and doing surveys. By 1939, Mr. Gale was working for the Vancouver Mortgage Corporation Ltd., securing applications for mortgage loans, and in 1947, he was appointed as manager of the Mortgage Department of Gordon M. Thompson Ltd. He launched his own company, the W.E. Gale Mortgage Company Ltd in 1954 and his offices were located in the penthouse suite in the Vancouver Stock Exchange Building.

Gale was very proactive in seeking investment capital and he compiled two books (1944, 1950) designed to interest potential clients in Vancouver and West Vancouver. The books contained general and residential information about each area and included photographs, street scenes, and statistics on construction growth, marriages and mortgage registrations. During his lifetime William Gale also collected First Nations artifacts, rare books, and paintings. William Esteen Gale died in Vancouver in February 1987, at the age of 81.

Katherine Lettice was a teacher in the 1910s at Manson's Landing School on Cortes Island. She took photographs of the school.

Paul Rand (Otto Schellenberger prior to May 12, 1941) was born 1896 and died in 1970. He was born in Bonn, Germany where he attended public school. He next studied for a year in art school at Frankfurt-on-Main. He came to Canada in 1912 and settled on the prairies. He travelled and sketched across Canada for two years (1912-1914) then for the next thirteen years he did not paint. In 1927 he moved to Vancouver, B.C. where he attended night classes for eight years at the Vancouver School of Art under W.P. Weston, J.W.G. Macdonald (design) and F.H. Varley (life drawing). In 1930 he became a naturalized British Subject. By 1932 he was exhibiting at the Vancouver Art Gallery Association Annual Exhibitions and in 1933 became a member of the B.C. Society of Artists (Vice-Pres., Pres., Exec.). In June of 1934 he started work as a commercial artist and for the next seventeen years was Art Director for the Sun Printing Company while continuing with his easel painting on his free time. In 1956 he became Art Director for the Evergreen Press Limited in Vancouver where he continued until his retirement in 1965. In his painting he became known for his landscapes of British Columbia which he painted in water colours, oils and tempera in impressionistic and decorative realistic styles. He received a number of awards for his painting including a bronze medal for outstanding water colour in 1937 at the Vancouver Art Gallery Exhibition; his work was selected for the Royal Canadian Academy travelling exhibition of 1942 and 1944. He was also included in the Southern Dominion Exhibition of 1936 under the Carnegie Foundation which show travelled for three years appearing in the United States, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Hawaiian Islands and across Canada. He was art instructor at the Polytechnic Institute of Vancouver, 1937-1938; night classes for the Armed Forces sponsored by the Canadian Legion (1944-1945). He did illustrations for a history of England text published by W.J. Gage & Co. (1937) and in 1942 he did cover illustrations for the Vancouver Sun Magazine. His commercial awards include: Gilcrafter Honour Award from Gilbert Paper Company for best letterhead (1944); Top Honour in The Bruce McAllister Memorial Award Competition "Industrial British Columbia" (1946). His solo shows include Y.M.C.A. Building, Vancouver, B.C.; posthumously in 1972 by James Warren Felter, Curator/Director of Exhibition Centre for Communications and the Arts, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby; and by the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, 1980. At the time of his death he was survived by his wife Helena. He lived in Vancouver.

Albert King was born March 3, 1915 in St. Anthony's, England and moved to Canada in 1928. In 1937 Al King was hired at Consolidating Mining and Smelting (CM & S). King quickly became involved with the International Union of Mine Mill and Smelter Workers. At this time, the International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers was struggling to reestablish itself in Trail, reviving a union tradition started with the Western Federation of Miners (WFM). The WFM became the International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers in 1916 and was generally known as Mine Mill. However, the dream of an independent union died with Ginger Goodwin at the end of the first world war. In 1941 King enlisted with the Canadian Air Force and was overseas until 1944. While he was gone, Local 480 of the International Union of Mine Mill and Smelter Workers (Canada) was certified. King resumed employment in Trail in 1946. Elected vice president of the Canadian Legion, Branch 11 and chair of the Canadian Legion Housing Committee, he was also chairman of the Labour Progressive Party from 1946 to 1949. In 1950, King became the president of Local 480, Trail BC a position he held until 1960. In 1960 he was elected Secretary, Western District of Mine Mill and in 1966 was named to the National Executive board as representative for Western Canada responsible for all hard rock mining and smelter operations. In sympathy with the Italians he worked with at Cominco, he changed his name to Albert Lorenzo King in 1966. When Mine Mill and Steel merged in 1967 Al King was demoted to Staff representative. Later, in 1972 he became compensation officer and was released from all other union duties so that he could devote his full attention to Workmens' Compensation Board matters. (Later called the Workers' Compensation Board) In 1968 King joined the Compensation and Safety committee of the BC Federation of Labour, an association he was to maintain for almost ten years. King became chair of the committee in 1972 withdrawing in 1976 to make room for Marianne Gilbert. In 1977 the renamed Health and Safety committee presented a report titled Perspectives for Health and Safety. One of the services offered by Mine Mill, and subsequently Steel, was the Western District Union Death Benefits plan, a fund enabling widows of miners to apply for assistance after a mining fatality. Al King became the administrator of the Western District Union Death Benefit plan in 1972. King served on the Regulations Advisory Board of the Workmen's Compensation Board in 1970 and chaired the BC Federation of Labour's Workers' Compensation Board Committee in 1975. Steel identified the education and certification of miners as a priority and King became responsible for schools and workshops throughout the province. King became the Director of the Medical Services Association (MSA) in 1972. After his retirement from the USWA in 1981, King continued to advocate for WCB claimants, and teach courses on the WCB appeal process. He published his memoirs in 1996 in collaboration with Kate Braid. Al King died in April 2003.

Alan Austin was a faculty member of the Biology Department at the University of Victoria from 1964-1997. He was a phycologist - a specialist in marine and freshwater algal vegetation. Austin was involved in two major research projects: Victoria Phenology Project, 1964-1986, and the Seaweed Inventory Project (SIP), 1969-1978. The SIP launched a substantial, and very rare, pre-utilisation survey of the seaweed along BC coastal waters, and produced detailed vegetation maps previously unavailable. A major proportion of the day to day research was conducted by Robert Adams, Austin's research assistant and colleague. The data from the SIP was used by the BC Commercial Fisheries Branch (later the Ministry of Environment) to assess the feasibility of commercially harvesting British Columbia's rich marine resources. Alan Austin died in Victoria, BC on September 29, 2009.

Robert Mathison was born in Toronto 20 July 1865. As a young man he moved to Vancouver in March of 1886 and immediately got a job working at the Weekly Herald as a printer. Mathison opened his own printing business in Vancouver in July of 1886. He opened his printing business directly after the fire of June1886; the fire was responsible for effectively destroyed the fledgling city of Vancouver (including three print shops).

After the sale of R. Mathison, The Printer, business, Mathison travelled to Philadelphia Pennsylvania where he attended the Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery. Upon his return to British Columbia Dr. Mathison practiced dentistry in Greenwood and Kelowna from [1901-1944].

While a businessman in Vancouver, Mathison was active in the community, and a member of the Vancouver Board of Trade. In 1949 the Vancouver Board of Trade celebrated its 60th Anniversary, as the only surviving charter member Dr. Mathison was invited to give a speech. He passed away in Vernon in March of 1954.

Jack Shadbolt has developed an international reputation as a distinguished modern artist, lecturer, and writer. Throughout his career he has written extensively about art and the creative process. He was born in Shoeburyness, England, in 1909, and in 1912, emigrated with his family to Victoria.

In his youth, he spent long hours studying the collections of Northwest Coast First Nations Art in provincial museums and galleries. He met Emily Carr in 1930, and was deeply influenced by her work. At that time, he was already aware that he wanted to become an artist. Shadbolt attended Victoria College in 1926-1927 and entered the Provincial Normal School in Victoria in 1929. He began his career as a teacher in Duncan, and in 1931 moved to Vancouver where he taught at Kitsilano High School for several years.

During the thirties, Shadbolt began to articulate his artistic ideas that the development of a modern Northwest Coast indigenous art must be profoundly rooted in a sense of place. In this sense, Shadbolt felt modern artists could learn from First Nations traditions. During this time, his work reflected the influence of Surrealism, and much of his art documented the modern industrial landscape of Vancouver. In 1937, he studied in London, and then in Paris with Andre Lhote. In 1938, he began teaching at the Vancouver School of Art, and was the Head of Drawing and Painting Section until 1966.

In 1942, Shadbolt joined the army, and in 1944 was assigned to the War Artists Administration in London. After the war, in 1945, he married Doris Meisel Shadbolt, and returned to Vancouver. In 1948, he attended the Art Students' League in New York where he was influenced by the work of the Abstract Expressionists. In the same year he audited a course in the history of mythology at the New School for Social Research.

In the fifties, he exhibited frequently, and led the West Coast renaissance in painting. In 1966, after 35 years of teaching, he left the Vancouver School of Art to paint full time. After several trips to the Mediterranean, he introduced sharp, bright colour into his palette.

In the seventies, he extended his interest in native and primitive art and produced a series of fetish images and ritual transformation themes on the growth cycle of the butterfly. In 1975, he traveled to Iran, Afghanistan and India, which resulted in his large scale India Suite of twenty panels in serial form.

His art is widely represented in major public and corporate collections in Canada. He has exhibited his work in numerous solo exhibitions in major centres in North America and Europe. His work has also been included in many important group exhibitions in Canada, the United States, Mexico, Europe and Australia.

Shadbolt has been the recipient of many awards, including the Canadian Government Overseas Fellowship in 1956, the Canadian Guggenheim International Award in 1957, the Centennial Medal in 1967, the University of Alberta National Award for Painting in 1969, the Order of Canada in 1972, and the Ontario Society of Artists Award in 1981. As well, he has received three honorary Doctorate of Law degrees from the University of Victoria in 1973, Simon Fraser University in 1978, and The University of British Columbia in 1978.

Chester Peter Lyons, often referred to as Ches or Chess, was born near Regina, Saskatchewan in 1915 and moved to Penticton, British Columbia in 1919 where his family took up fruit farming. Lyons attended high school in the Okanagan Valley and hiked, camped and fished throughout the region. In 1939, Lyons obtained his Bachelor of Science degree in forest engineering from the University of British Columbia and began his career as a forest engineer with the BC Forest Service and was involved in surveying, reforestation and development. In 1940, he took up residence in Victoria. Lyons soon became a key figure in the newly established Parks Branch, where he helped explore, plan, and otherwise establish the provincial parks system. His park planning included Manning, Tweedsmuir, Wells Gray, and Bowron Lakes, which he characteristically documented in photographs and moving images. Later in his career with BC Parks, Lyons shifted his focus to human heritage objectives. To this end, he played a key role in the restoration and management of Barkerville from 1958 to 1963 and undertook the Stop-Of-Interest plaque program adjacent to major highways in British Columbia.

After taking early retirement from the Department of Recreation and Conservation in 1963, Lyons pursued his many projects in nature interpretation as an author, lecturer, wildlife and travel filmaker, television producer, and photographer. As an author of numerous books and articles, Lyons introduced the local and natural history of British Columbia to visitors and residents alike. He is best known for his popular fieldguides on the plants of British Columbia and Washington State, especially the various editions of Trees, Shrubs, and Flowers to Know in BC (1952). These fieldguides highlighted his talent as a plant illustrator as he drew the original illustrations for these books.

Lyons became a popular film lecturer, notably on the National Audubon Society lecture circuit and the World Around US travel series which incorporated Lyons' photographs and moving images from his travels in BC and internationally. As an independent documentary filmaker and television producer, Lyons is best remembered for his contributions to the CBC television program Klahanie the Great Outdoors. Lyons also established a travel company, Golden Eye World Travel, which took him all over the world as travel-tour guide. His international travels contributed more subjects for his films and photographs. In his lifetime, Lyons was also the founding father of the BC Museum Association, was involved in Toastmasters, and helped plan BC Parks reunions.

Lyons died on December 20, 1998 in Hawaii due to complications from a ruptured gall bladder, just weeks after his fieldguide Wildflowers of Washington was published.

Robert Smithson is one of the canonical figures in 20th century art. He was born in Passaic, New Jersey in 1938 and died in a plane crash near Amarillo, Texas in 1973. Smithson was an early proponent of earthworks or land art and his practice involved drawings, projects and proposals, sculpture, films and critical writings. He has had an extensive exhibition history beginning in 1959 and which continues to present day.

Dennis Wheeler, writer and filmmaker, was born in Vancouver in 1948. He studied art history and English at the University of British Columbia and became an integral part of the Vancouver art community during the late 1960s. His writing and criticism was published in <em>artscanada, Grape</em>, and <em>The Georgia Straight</em>. In 1975 he directed the film <em>Potlatch: A Strict Law Bids Us Dance</em> for the U’mista Cultural Centre. In 1976 he collaborated with Nancy Holt on the video Revolve. Wheeler died of leukemia in 1977.

The Robert Smithson Collection of materials was amassed by Denis Wheeler throughout their friendship.

Wheeler met Smithson in Vancouver in 1969, when Smithson first travelled to the city to investigate possibilities for undertaking outdoor artworks. Over the following months, Wheeler engaged in extended discussions with Smithson regarding his proposal for the <em>Island of Broken Glass</em> (which was to have been undertaken on an island in the Strait of Georgia) and the broader implications of his practice. Wheeler was also present at the installation of Smithson’s <em>Glass Strata with Mulch and Soil</em> and at the <em>Glue Pour</em> Smithson undertook for the Vancouver Art Gallery exhibition <em>955,000</em> in January of 1970. At Smithson’s request, Wheeler photographed the <em>Glue Pour</em> over a number of days with the intent (unrealized) to produce another version of the work. Wheeler also recorded several interviews with Smithson, which have subsequently been published, and published articles on Smithson’s work. Their association continued until Smithson’s untimely death in 1973. Wheeler also maintained a friendship with Smithson’s widow, Nancy Holt, until his own death in 1977.

Katie Helps was born in Bristol, England in 1900 and her family moved to Osoyoos in 1911. In 1918 she married Ed Lacey and they made their home on Kruger Mountain, west of Osoyoos.

Ed and Katie moved to Osoyoos in 1928. Katie Lacey was recognized by the Osoyoos Board of Trade as Good Citizen for 1954. Over the years, she contributed many historical articles to the Okanagan Historical Society Reports. She was also instrumental in founding the Osoyoos Museum. A lookout on the Richter Pass Highway, overlooking Osoyoos Lake, is sited on part of the old Lacey pre-emption. Katie Lacey died in Oliver in 1963.

Robert Andrew Faris was born in Vancouver, BC on December 25, 1923 to Kathleen “Kitty” (nee Litch) and Andrew Faris. He served in the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War II, met and married Celia Eileen Brown in London, England, and settled in Vancouver where Bob worked as a traveling hardware salesman for 19 years. Faris entered the ministry in his 40s. Ordained by BC Conference in 1967, his charges included Hazelton (1967-1970); First United, Victoria (1970-1973); Central Mainland Marine Mission (1973-1978); Bella Bella (1978-1983); and Sunnyside United Church, White Rock (1983-1990). He continued as Minister Emeritus at Sunnyside, and served with Celia as caretaker at Camp Kwomais in White Rock until retirement in 1993. Bob spent his retirement with Celia in Victoria, where he died in 2001.

Iris Millmore was born in Britian. When she served with the Royal Air Force she learned to roller skate and was a bronze medal holder. In the 1960’s when she relocated to Campbell River she began teaching roller skating to local children. In 1963 this lead to the establishment of the Campbell River Roller Skating Club. Operating from the local community hall the club was involved in giving lesson to local children as well as holding annual roller skating shows for the public. Iris left Campbell River in 1967 (the club operated unti l the mid 1970’s) and in 1991 she was involved in organizing a club reunion.

Agnes Maud Flett (nee Jones) and husband Alfred were photographers and journalists on Vancouver Island and operated their photography business, Flett Studios Ltd.
In 1956 Agnes was contracted to CBC Vancouver with reports broadcast locally and on the national CBC network. She was also a long-time columnist with the Nanaimo Daily Free Press and a correspondent for the Victoria Daily Colonist.
Agnes was born in 1917 and died of cancer in Nanaimo Regional Hospital on December 9, 1993.

Beryl Gray was a resident of West Vancouver in the 1930s and 1940s, who lived at 2595 Mathers Avenue in Hollyburn. She wrote short stories for women's journals in England and Australia. There is little information available about her. It is possible her full name was Inezlie Beryl Gray, and she may have died on April 14, 1950 in North Vancouver.

In 1920, Grace Mulcahy moved from Halifax to West Vancouver, where she worked as a nurse and boarded with the Vinson family. She lived there until she married Ed Rathje about 1925.

Kay Meek was born Kay Menelaws in England on August 6, 1906. She was a social studies teacher in Vancouver until she married George Norgan in the early 1940s. George Norgan was an executive with Lucky Lager, who also had ownership interest in Harrison Hotsprings Hotel, and Lansdowne Race Track. In 1953, Kay and George Norgan moved to the Kew House in West Vancouver. The couple were prominent in the community, and enjoyed entertaining, golfing, and travelling. George Norgan died in 1964, and Kay married her second husband, Reginald Meek in the early 1970s. They worked together on many philanthropic projects.

The Lower Mainland arts organizations who benefited from her generosity include the Academy of Music, the Vancouver Symphony, and the Vancouver Art Gallery. Kay Meek was also a major benefactor of Lions Gate Hospital, the Vancouver Foundation, and West Vancouver Foundation.

She helped finance local projects such as the lights on Dundarave Pier, the West Vancouver Seawalk, the Silk Purse Gallery, the preservation of the Ferry Building, the Harmony Arts Festival, and expansion of the West Vancouver Memorial Library. Her contributions to the West Vancouver Seniors Centre and the West Vancouver Museum and Archives, earned her a lifetime membership in both, and a citation from the Chamber of Commerce named her citizen of the year in 1989. She was also awarded the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal in recognition of her community spirit.

For more then 40 years, the former schoolteacher had a goal to see a learning-based performing arts centre built in the community she loved. In 1998, an arts centre trust was established and funded by Kay Meek wih an initial donation of one million dollars. In 2000, the West Vancouver School District proposed that the new arts centre be built beside West Vancouver Secondary School, and in 2002 a joint use agreement was signed between the West Vancouver School District and the West Vancouver Arts Centre Trust. Backed by another generous contribution from Kay Meek, construction commenced on the performing arts centre.

Kay Meek died on November 6, 2004, the day of the first public performance at the Centre that now bears her name. She was 98 years old. In May 2005, the Kay Meek Centre for the Performing Arts held its official grand opening. Reginald Meek died April 7, 2007 at the age of 95.

Mary Lisbeth Chapman (nee Burns) was the only daughter of Jack and Maria Burns. Mary married James Chapman of Capilano in 1941. They had two children, Marilynne and John Graham Chapman. Marilynne married Terry Mitchison and also had two children, Nicole and Paul Mitchison, who continued to live in West Vancouver. John Graham married Theresa La Bonte and had three sons, Blair, Trevor, and Grant Chapman and one daughter Breanna Chapman.

Mary Chapman was a long time member of the West Vancouver Historical Society, and served for a number of years as a volunteer archival assistant for the archives.

Rupert Arthur Harrison was born in Glasgow, Scotland on August 21, 1914. His parents had moved to Canada in 1910. His mother, Anna was from Scotland and his father, Benjamin Harrison from England. They were residents of West Vancouver from 1913, but returned to Britain briefly in 1914 where Rupert was born. In December of 1914 they were back in West Vancouver. Rupert grew up in the family home at 2557 Kings Avenue. As a boy he took the PGE train to North Vancouver and walked up Lonsdale to school. He attended Kingley Boys School and subsequently North Shore College for grades one to eight. From 1929 to 1932 he attended Inglewood High School in West Vancouver.

Rupert had a great love of music and played the flute in West Vancouver’s first youth band, sang in the choir of West Vancouver United Church, and was cast in the first production of Theatre Under the Stars, performed at Brockton Oval in 1936. In 1939, Rupert Harrison married Grace Thompson (daughter of Harry Lawson Thompson). They had one child, Kenneth Thompson who was born in 1943.

Rupert’s first job after high school was as a furniture salesman. After work he attended night school taking accounting and business administration courses. With these skills, he was hired as a tax clerk on October 31, 1938 by the Corporation of the District of West Vancouver.

In 1943 he was promoted to Municipal Clerk for the Corporation of the District of West Vancouver, and remained with the District until his official retirement in August 1979. He served as the returning officer at local municipal elections from 1943 to 1978, and was appointed a Justice of the Peace in 1953. Rupert Harrison received a senior certificate in municipal administration in 1959 and from 1959 to 1979 he was Deputy Municipal Manager.

Rupert Harrison was very active in the community and a longtime member of local organizations. He was co-founder of the Rotary Club of West Vancouver, serving as first President from 1953 to 1954, and held a perfect attendance record for over 52 years. His taught Sunday school at the West Vancouver United Church, and was a church elder from 1948 to 1972. In 1979 Rupert was voted “Man of the Year” by the West Vancouver Chamber of Commerce, and in 1992 served as Honorary Marshall at the Community Day parade.

In March 1975, Municipal Council in West Vancouver passed a resolution providing Rupert Harrison with the time and resources to embark on a programme of research into the history of West Vancouver. He was mandated to collect historical records and historical information from pioneer residents. Among other things, Harrison embarked on a programme to interview long time residents of West Vancouver.

Following his retirement at age 65, Rupe, as he was affectionately known, was appointed archivist and historian for West Vancouver and provided with an office at the Municipal Hall where he worked 3 days a week on his labour of love for the next 19 years. Much of the material in the Rupert Harrison collection was gathered from this time until 1998 when Harrison resigned his task as historian and archivist for West Vancouver, 60 years to the day when he was first hired by the District. The Rupert Harrison fonds reflects Harrison’s activities as civil servant, historian, archivist and collector. Rupert Harrison died on August 9, 2007 at the age of 92.

Edward Charles Arthur was born on November 29, 1856 in the Bay of Quinte District, Ontario. He died in Nelson on July 6 1932. He was a founder of Nelson school system, city administrator, mining manager, ex soldier and Nelson city medical health officer. He came to Nelson in 1890 as a doctor on the CPR construction of the railway from Castlegar to Nelson. A founder of the Nelson Board of Trade, member of the Odd Fellows order and grand master of the grand lodge of British Columbia Freemasons. He served as a medical captain in the First World War. He was married to a Dr. Isabel Arthur.